Israeli Labour party set for leadership run-off

Israel's Labour party held leadership elections yesterday that appeared headed for a run-off vote between the former prime minister Ehud Barak and political newcomer Ami Ayalon, a former admiral and security services chief. Early exit polls suggested that neither man had passed the 40% threshold needed to win an outright victory in yesterday's vote.

Full results will be announced later today and if neither has sufficient votes the two leading candidates will face each other in a run-off on June 12.

The exit polls, as widely expected, showed that the party's current leader, Amir Peretz, the much-criticised defence minister, had been soundly defeated and pushed into third place. His departure will mean a cabinet reshuffle and the new Labour leader may well bring a serious shake-up of Israeli politics. Both Mr Barak and Mr Ayalon have suggested that they will try to force the resignation of the prime minister, Ehud Olmert, their coalition ally and head of the Kadima party.

There were conflicting results from two television exit polls after the vote closed at 9pm last night. Channel One television put Mr Barak slightly ahead on 38%, against Mr Ayalon's 36%. However, Channel Two television put Mr Ayalon ahead with 39% against Mr Barak's 33%. It said Mr Peretz won only 19% of the vote, with the two other candidates, Ophir Pines Paz and Danny Yatom, some way behind. The turnout was 65.5% of the 104,000 Labour members who were eligible to vote. Labour is the second largest group in Israel's five-party ruling coalition. Some within Labour want the new leader to withdraw from the coalition in protest at the government's handling of last year's war in Lebanon.

Both Mr Olmert and Mr Peretz were singled out for severe criticism for their conduct at the start of the war by a government-appointed inquiry. However, Labour has only 19 seats in the 78-seat coalition. Even if the party did pull out of government, Mr Olmert might be able to survive in his post by forging new alliances with small, rightwing parties.

Mr Barak has kept away from the press during his campaign, but in meetings with Labour party members he has emphasised his experience. A highly decorated army officer, he was head of the armed forces and was prime minister between 1999 and 2001. He has argued that he is best placed to face a future challenge from Binyamin Netanyahu, whose Likud party is a long way ahead in the current political opinion polls.

"I tell voters only two things: I tell them to think about who they want more in a time of war, and I tell them that only with me heading our team can we beat Netanyahu," Mr Barak said yesterday after casting his vote in Kfar Saba, near Tel Aviv.

Mr Ayalon, however, has only been an MP for a year. Previously he was chief of the navy and head of the Shin Bet, Israel's domestic security agency. Opinion polls in the run-up to yesterday's vote suggested that he would win in a run-off against Mr Barak.

"I think many people understand that we are, in fact, not just voting on the future of the Labour party but to a very large extent on the future leadership of the state of Israel," Mr Ayalon said yesterday.